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Open Library says “Imagine a library that collected all the world’s information about all the world’s books and made it available for everyone to view and update. We’re building that library.” Update: Things are evolving really fast. These are probably the most revolutionary times for library catalogs since they first went electronic. This is a great example of the changes afoot. From the site:
Second, it must be grandly comprehensive. It would take catalog entries from every library and publisher and random Internet user who is willing to donate them. It would link to places where each book could be bought, borrowed, or downloaded. It would collect reviews and references and discussions and every other piece of data about the book it could get its hands on.
But most importantly, such a library must be fully open. Not simply “free to the people,” as the grand banner across the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh proclaims, but a product of the people: letting them create and curate its catalog, contribute to its content, participate in its governance, and have full, free access to its data.
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Brushing up on my OpenID literature for an article I am writing.
Author: Michael C. Habib
links for 2007-07-13
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OpenID and Education.
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From 04/06 – “Tagging systems don’t work because a ton of people use them; they work because tags are valuable to us. “
links for 2007-07-11
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Help, I need somebody to tagThis student needs help conducting research on his Master’s Thesis on “Collaborative Indexing Systems”, i.e. tagging. Please take his 15 minute tagging “survey” if you get a chance. “Tobias Kowatsch, Student of Computer Science in Media at Hochschule Fu
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BIGWIG got in trouble with LITA for not using enough LITA branding. However, I am joining LITA because of BIGWIG.
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Karen Coombs’ response to Jason’s post and the LITA Letter. “But the truth is that the only way the system changes is if people participate and try to change it.”
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A deeper discussion of ALA committees resulting.
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A peak at Del.icio.us usability testing. Posted on Flickr of course.
links for 2007-07-10
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Librarians on the front page of the NYT style section is a GOOD thing. Was it fluffy? Yes. Was it an overall positive portrayal? Yes. Most professions would be thankful for such coverage.
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Article on usability professionals.
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Brief research article on how closely social networking profiles (on Facebook) match actual personality traits. Replicates earlier findings on personal web pages. “But how accurate are the impressions based on OSNW profiles? Our previous research on pers
Hipper Crowd of Librarians – Most E-Mailed, 5th Most Blogged
Hipper Crowd of Librarian’s – Most E-Mailed, 5th Most Blogged, originally uploaded by habibmi.
The NYT article on hip librarians is the most e-mailed article of the New York Times and it is 5th most blogged. Despite its fluffiness, I liked the article.
Stereotypes are a fact of life. Every time I am at a bar, night club, or concert past 10 at night and tell a stranger that I am a librarian, they express surprise. Why? Because I am a young, male, librarian who appears to be having fun.
I am willing to bet that any young librarian or library student who could be considered moderately “hip” has had this experience.
There will always be stereotypes. I for one would rather be stereotyped as a hipster than a spinster any day.
By the way, the Business section of the Sunday Times had an article explaining what usabilty professionals do:
Technology’s Untanglers: They Make It Really Work